






,^ 








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The Great Unconscious 



Philosophy 

OF THE 

Great Unconscious 



Samuel Eugene Stevens, M. D. 



BOSTON 

Old Corner Book Store 

1908 



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- of 00N6RESS.I 
i I wo yooies »e»;us>'^ 

■j OCT 18 ^U& 



Copyright 1908 

by 

Samuel Eugene Stevens 



All Rights Reserved 



MUNSON PRESS 
NORTHAMPTON, MASS. 






To J. M. 

Days of comradeship and love, 

When life and thought were free — 

A dream of hope, a dream of love, 
A treasured memory. 



Preface 

This book is by no means a sustained 
or exhaustive effort, as the somewhat 
ponderous title would indicate ; but 
rambling impressions, taken down as 
they occurred, without much attempt at 
classification, and for the most part, 
without revision. 

However imperfect and fragmentary, 

it is a privilege to leave some written 

record of doubt, if not of knowledge ; a 

hope, a hypothesis, a dream, a perhaps, 

a prophecy of something that may 

possibly prove to be true. 

S. E. S. 

River Side 
Hanover, N. H. 



Introduction 



A LENTIL the middle of the nine- 
•I CI teenth century, it was supposed 
^rw throughout Christendom, that 
the problem of existence was settled 
for all time by the book of Genesis. 

To be sure, a few had dared to think 
and doubt, and some had dared to die. 

But a sun full of light was at length 
thrown on the whole problem by a 
careful study and interpretation of the 
incorruptible revelations of Nature, 
establishing the fact of evolution in 
place of special creation ; and it is 
now no longer a crime, but a duty, to 
doubt and question, not only " Hebrew 
tradition," but all authority : to enter- 
tain views and reach independent 
conclusions upon all subjects. 



12 Philosophy of the 

With no reserved rights, the whole 
realm of thought is open to scientific 
research, determined by which, all 
systems must stand or fall. 



Infinity encompasses and stretches 
away from us in every direction — 
infinite time, space, matter ; the in- 
finitely large, the infinitely small. 

What ? Whence ? Wherefore ? 
Whither? . . . What is matter? 
What is space ? What is energy ? 
What is electricity ? What are 
atoms ? What is life ? What is con- 
sciousness ? . . What was the origin 
of it all ? What will be the end ? 

Can that which is infinite have had 
a beginning, and can it have an end ? 



Great Unconscious 13 

To all these interrogations Theol- 
ogy assumes the existence of " God," 
removes its spectacles, and calls the 
problem solved. 

And no doubt the unthinking mass 
of mankind will continue to accept 
and be satisfied with the solution con- 
tained in some so-called supernatural 
revelation. 

But it is beginning to dawn upon 
the mind and understanding of the 
average school-boy that the facts of 
Nature come only by observation and 
experiment, and that a Biological 
laboratory is a more promising place 
for obtaining facts than a Sunday- 
school Bible class. 

We do not know and cannot com- 
prehend ; but if it becomes essential 
for mankind to know — infinite Nature 
will evolve an organ of mind that can 
comprehend. 



14 Philosophy of the 

A part of the infinite, man's possi- 
bilities of knowing must be infinite. 



What has taken ages to evolve a 
wish to understand, will require ages 
to develop ability to understand. 



The great Hseckel says: "There 
is no scientific problem which we 
may dare to say the mind of man will 
never solve ; no mystery so deep or 
profound ; no question ever has been 
or ever will be asked, but a mind or 
brain will be evolved and developed 
capable of solving and answering." 

In the meantime, " We are not 
bound to entertain a supernatural 
theory merely because we have not 
yet found a natural theory." 



Great Unconscious 15 

Wonder and doubt are the begin- 
nings of knowledge. 

It is possible for any ordinary ob- 
server of the various phenomena of 
Nature, with which he is surrounded, 
and of which he is a part, to discover 
fragments of truth leading ultimately 
to a correct interpretation of these 
phenomena, and to the establishment 
of important scientific facts. 



Evolution of the Conscious 



AI<L phenomena of Nature can 
be classified as conscious or 
unconscious. 

The Idealist, submerged in meta- 
physical speculation, deludes himself 
with a universe of mind : the Realist, 
with a universe of matter. A point of 
view — for no doubt in the final analy- 
sis, mind is matter, matter, mind ; the 
primordial element of both being the 
same. 

Which is the higher or primary 
manifestation ? Did the phenomenon 
called matter, antedate and evolve 
mind, or did the phenomenon called 
mind antedate and evolve matter ? 

What reason is there for concluding 
that a state of consciousness is supe- 
rior to that of unconsciousness? 



20 Philosophy of the 

As generally understood, conscious- 
ness is peculiar to organisms having 
extremely complex nervous ganglia 
called the brain — not necessarily 
confined to man, but shared more or 
less by lower animals in proportion to 
brain development. 

We may not now be able to explain 
fully this phenomenon ; but when we 
remember its natural origin, and that 
the whole animal kingdom share the 
same, in kind if not in degree — we 
know, if we know anything, that it 
cannot be a metaphysical entity, 
superior to, and independent of the 
physical, and capable of separate 
manifestation. 

Consciousness is developed in con- 
nection with animal life only ; its ex- 
istence elsewhere is pure assumption. 



Great Unconscious 21 

It is impossible to imagine sensa- 
tion without organs of sense ; or 
understanding without organ of 
mind. 

There can be no thought or intelli- 
gence independent of brain and sense 
organs. 

ARK not the various senses, or 
perceptive faculties essential 
to consciousness ? And were 
they not primarily evolved and devel- 
oped by pre-existing, external, 
unconscious, material stimuli ? 

In other words, is not consciousness 
a result, and does it not depend upon 
the perceptive faculties ? And were 
not the perceptive faculties, and 
therefore consciousness itself, evolved 
and developed primarily by pre-exist- 
ing, unconscious, material stimuli ? 



22 Philosophy of the 

The only means of knowing the 
nature of things is through the special 
sense organs, thus evolved. 

Impressions made thereon are trans- 
mitted by nerve tissue to the central 
sense organ, or ganglion of conscious- 
ness, itself also a product of gradual 
evolution and development. 

The combined functional activity 
of both external and internal organs 
of sense are necessary to complete 
consciousness. 



m 



B KNOW that material things 
exist independent of mind, 
because of the fact that they 
first evolved and developed the 
senses, whereby things are perceived. 



Waves of light from the sun must 
have reached the earth long ages be- 
fore visual organs were evolved. 



Great Unconscious 23 

The evolution of a visual sense 
proves the previous existence of light; 
the sense of hearing, that of sound. 

The perception of light and sound 
were of use to the organism, hence the 
development and perfecting of these 
sense organs by a natural process on 
primitive organisms, and transmission 
by inheritance. 

If there had been no such material 
mode of motion as light and sound, 
the visual and auditory senses would 
not have been evolved. If such mo- 
lecular motion should cease, these 
senses would be lost, and the organs 
themselves become rudimentary. 

Something the same can be said of 
all the other special sense organs and 
their functions, including that of the 
cerebrum, the compound sense organ 
of consciousness. 



24 Philosophy of the 

Thus we perceive that the primary 
condition and cause of consciousness 
itself was unconscious ; that the great 
unconscious material forces of Nature 
formed and fashioned all things by- 
inherent energy ; that all psychic 
phenomena are secondary and de- 
pendent, evolved and developed by 
and from the unconscious, for the con- 
servation of the physical. 

Inanimate unconscious Nature has 
the germ and potency of all phenom- 
ena, physical and psychic, inherent in 
itself. 

There are no elements in the ani- 
mate that are not in the inanimate. 

The elements of all organic and 
inorganic forms must have antedated 
their evolution. 



Great Unconscious 25 

The products of evolution are a mir- 
ror of pre-existing elements. 



Whatever we are, whatever is, is a 
product of Nature, a product of its 
elements, a form or combination of 
atoms, a mode of motion resulting 
from environment. 



All life is a blossoming forth of 
what is in Nature — man himself an 
epitome of the universe. 



The unconscious being the source of 
the conscious, if all conscious phe- 
nomena were destroyed it would only 
be a question of time and physical 
conditions when they would again 
appear. 



26 Philosophy of the 



^•yHE mental is one aspect or 
I 1 1 I manifestation of Nature — not 
^■^ the highest and not the lowest 
perhaps, but very dependent, con- 
tingent and transitory. 

It certainly cannot approach in per- 
sistent power and grandeur that of the 
unconscious — for instance the sun, by 
far the greatest visible force in Na- 
ture — the immediate source of all life 
and energy — vitalizing, life-compell- 
ing, creator and preserver of all things. 



Developed with, peculiar to, and 
inseparable from the animal organism, 
consciousness is subordinate to the in- 
voluntary vital and vegetative func- 
tions going on constantly, upon which 
all mentality depends. 



Great Unconscious 27 

In all the endless transformations 
of matter, nothing is more mutable, 
dependent and non-essential than 
mind ; utter obliteration and oblivion 
are inevitable. 

The blood leaves the brain — con- 
sciousness is lost. If the blood does 
not return — consciousness does not 
return. 

Dependent on a heart beat and 
breath, thus easily may mind and 
memory fail and pass. 

The organism can live without con- 
sciousness, but consciousness cannot 
survive dissolution of the organism. 

There can be no thought or intelli- 
gence apart from the body, or 
separate from the brain. 

Intelligence is lost in proportion to 
loss of sense-perception. 



28 Philosophy of the 

The central sense organ, or ganglion 
of consciousness, responds to impres- 
sions received through the special 
senses alone. 

If there were no special sense or- 
gans, the central sense organ would 
not have been developed. 

If in very early infancy all nerve 
connection between the special sense 
organs and the central sense organ, or 
brain, were cut off, consciousness 
would be impossible. 

If in an adult, all connection were 
severed, consciousness might continue 
in consequence of previous impres- 
sions. 

But an organism without perceptive 
organs is non-sentient, and therefore 
without consciousness. 



Great Unconscious 29 



^/TOWEVBR important the psy- 
*!■{} chic may appear personally, 
y**C it is astonishing how limited 
its influence in time and space. 

The annals of man and of mind are 
fragmentary, their evolution recent, 
and there are no proofs that human 
consciousness exists or has been 
evolved elsewhere. 

It is claimed by high authority 
that this earth is the only planet in 
the universe that is inhabited or in- 
habitable. An infinitesimal speck, 
and yet more infinitesimal life and 
consciousness, and that extremely 
precarious and uncertain, dependent 
upon ever changing conditions of the 
great unconscious elements of Nature, 
by and from which evolved. 



30 Philosophy of the 

If mind is essential, or plays any 
important part in the cosmos, why 
was it evolved thus late, and on this 
planet alone of the solar system, or of 
all the vast unnumbered worlds of 
boundless space ? 

Where was thought, before and 
during the formative stages of sun 
and world ? 

It is assumed that a higher intelli- 
gence was at work, an intelligence 
like our own, but infinite and divine. 

It is natural for mankind to indulge 
in illusions : It has been ever thus. 

In primitive times the universe 
was thought to be of supernatural 
origin, and a deity or demon was be- 
lieved to be in every phenomena of 
Nature. 



Great Unconscious 31 

Steeped in superstition and igno- 
rance, man has always believed in 
spirits and a Father of spirits ; has 
always imagined that mind can exist 
and act, apart from the body. 

If it is not ignorance and supersti- 
tion, it is metaphysical assumption to 
mix up consciousness with the inani- 
mate forces and phenomena of Nature; 
to suppose that inorganic nerveless 
matter can think, or to assume the 
existence of independent spiritual 
entities, or a higher intelligence out- 
side or within the natural, supervis- 
ing the same. 

It is equally unreasonable and un- 
scientific to suppose physical organ- 
isms evolve spiritual entities to sur- 
vive the organism. 

There may be organic life without 
consciousness, but there can be no 
consciousness without organic life. 



The Great Unconscious 



y^ONTEMPLAT ING the unceas- 
1 I ing activities of an infinite 
^^^ universe, in which phenomena 
of consciousness have no part — we are 
overwhelmed, and cry out, " Is there 
not, after all, something higher and 
better, and more to be desired, than 
this poor fleeting psychism, shared 
by lower creatures, with only a mission 
and ministry of selfishness?" 



They call it God ! We name it The 
Great Unconscious. 



Mankind, everywhere, has sought 
to express in a name, some adequate 
conception of a supreme personality 
or power. 



36 Philosophy of the 

God : Jehovah : Great Spirit : Zeus : 
Jupiter: Osiris and Isis : Ormuzd and 
Arimon : Brahma Vishnu and Siva : 
Allah : The Absolute : The Ultimate 
Reality : The Universal Soul : etc. 

While The Unknowable of Spencer 
best accords with present knowledge — 
The Unconscious must accord with 
final facts. 



Superior to all emotion or senti- 
ment, inanimate unconscious Nature 
feels neither pain nor pleasure, love 
nor hate ; without sensation or sense, 
consciousness or conscience, knowl- 
edge or reason, will or wish, person- 
ality or parts ; painless, pitiless, all- 
powerful ; beginningless, endless, in- 
finite ; immutable, invariable, un- 
changeable. 



Great Unconscious 37 

Such is the Great Impersonal Un- 
conscious ! Antedating all conscious 
life ! Creator, transformer ! By and 
from, in and of which all things are, 
and have been, and will continue to be. 

This great unconscious causeless 
cause, must be something more 
primal, persistent, vast and all em- 
bracing than phenomena of mind or 
conception of a personal deity hereto- 
fore entertained. 




EVENTY so-called natural 
elements, more or less, are 
now recognized ; but in the 
final analysis, there can be but one 
primary element, from which all have 
been evolved, and to which all may 
be resolved. 



38 Philosophy of the 

What is the nature of this underly- 
ing, basic substance ? It cannot be 
supernatural ; it must be in Nature ; 
it must be unconscious. 

We turn to the sun. Its energy de- 
pends upon polarized atomic matter — 
radio-electrical — in infinitely rapid 
movement. 

Modifications of this mode of atomic 
motion produce all the varied phe- 
nomena of Nature, organic and inor- 
ganic, physical and psychic. 

Yet this great life-compelling force 
is without life or consciousness. 

This can be more clearly shown by 
a brief survey of solar evolution, 
which may be divided into three 
periods — primordial, nebulous, and 
planetary. 



Great Unconscious 39 

The primordial inter-cyclic condi- 
tion in solar space is that of ethereal 
equilibrium, in which electro-atomic 
motion prevails. 

From this primal state, disturbed by- 
some great recurring impulse, molec- 
ular matter is precipitated, so to 
speak — a nebulous mass in wide and 
rapid revolution, with central nucleus, 
to which all is gradually drawn, con- 
densing into a vast molten sphere — 
from which successive masses are 
thrown off, partaking of like motion — 
to form a grand procession around the 
central mass. 

In this process of sun and plane- 
tary formation, all modes of motion, 
hence all forms of matter and corre- 
lated phenomena of light, heat, and 
electricity, are developed. 



40 Philosophy of the 

For countless ages, these forces or 
forms of matter radiate throughout 
solar space, until, drawn back again 
to the central mass, all again become 
ethereal, and thus a state of equilib- 
rium is once more reached. 

In all this infinite process of world- 
formation, no conscious personal deity 
is at work, but unconscious atomic 
and molecular change and association. 

And in all these vast solar cycles, 
phenomena of consciousness, — a possi- 
bility, not an end, — may or may not 
appear. It matters not. 

Formed and controlled by inherent 
law, what use has sun, or earth, or 
rolling sphere for intelligence ? 

Their evolution depends on condi- 
tions superior to all consciousness. 



Great Unconscious 41 

And oh — how many, many times 
this great planetary formation and de- 
formation hath occurred and will 
occur ! 

Whether man or mind are evolved, 
being immaterial to the infinite 
processes of Nature — which pause not, 
cease not, rest not, regard not, respect 



^■pHUS we behold unending evo- 
I J I lution and resolution is the 
^0 inevitable law pertaining to 
the solar system, and to all forms of 
matter, save the all-pervading, 
primordial, ethereal sea, from which 
all forms arise, to which all must 
return ! In whose ceaseless undula- 
tions, suns and systems forever rise, 
and fall, and sink — like bubbles 
burst and disappear ! 



42 Philosophy of the 

A voiceless void, a viewless sub- 
stance, a tireless power, back of all, 
evolving all, by inherent energy — 
pushing on to possible life and 
consciousness. 



Science is clearly demonstrating 
that this all-pervading cosmic cause, 
must be purely electrical in its nature. 



The problem of existence thus 
resolves itself into an electrical phe- 
nomenon ! The monism of mind and 
matter ! The unity of the universe ! 
A universal philosophy, a universal 
science, a universal religion, not of 
belief, but of knowledge, not of faith, 
but of fact. 



Great Unconscious 43 



^/^LECTRO-ATOMIC matter, 
^^ great unconscious formative, 
^^f deformative, transforming ele- 
ment, fulfills all the requirements of 
that metaphysical abstraction called 
" God," more completely than 
anything heretofore indicated. 

The most wonderful manifestation 
of Nature. Its powers and possibilities 
appear infinite. The more it is 
studied and understood, the more 
wonderful it becomes. Utilized in 
mechanics, revolutionizing the whole 
economic and commercial world. As 
a natural force, making and un- 
making suns and systems. 

Primordial substance — from whence 
and by which all has been evolved, 
and to which all may be resolved ! 

Essence, source and sum-total of 
all things I 



44 Philosophy of the 



/•y^XECTRO-ATOMIC matter ! 
J^ Indivisible, indestructible, 
^"^ elemental ! With inherent 
polarity and attribute of motion, the 
varying modes of which produce all 
phenomena of Nature ! 

The primary condition of matter 
being that of ethereal equilibrium, all 
forms of matter, or modes of atomic 
vibration, are modifications of this 
primary condition, and reducible to it. 

The basis of all things is electro- 
atomic ; its life, inherent polarity ; its 
genesis, eternity ; its revelation, the 
universe. 

An unconscious, impersonal power, 
whose touch transmutes, and thrills, 
and kills, and makes alive! It alone 
is primal! It alone has been, and 
may become ! It alone abides ! 



Great Unconscious 45 



^5fjf N THE first analysis, all visible 
^1 tangible matter is molecular; 
vZ/ in the final analysis, it is 
electro-atomic. 

Molecular matter called air, essen- 
tial to all life and consciousness ; 
composed in the first analysis of 
nitrogen and oxygen ; in the final 
analysis, is electro-atomic. 

Water, essential to all life and 
consciousness ; composed in the first 
analysis of hydrogen and oxygen, in 
the final analysis, is electro-atomic. 



All molecular matter is materialized 
electricity. All manifestations of 
force, an effort to reach a state of 
electro-atomic equilibrium. 



46 Philosophy of the 

In all desire, appetite, passion, or 
needs of any kind, there is electrical 
stress, relieved by gratification. 



The power of infinite re-adjustment, 
inherent in atomic and molecular 
matter, due to polarity, is the cause 
of all chemical change, of all crys- 
talline formation, of all vital and 
vegetative processes of organic life, — 
and of all mental and emotional 
phenomena of sentient beings. 



Thought ! Electro-atomic matter 
in a radiant form : the brain, a self- 
registering, self-adjusting mechanism; 
evolved by, with and for this special 
psycho-physical manifestation. 



Great Unconscious 47 



y^OSMIC Ether— electro-atomic— 
I "Ultimate Reality," from 

^ta^ which all things proceed ! 
"Absolute Substance," from which 
all things are derived! "Germinal 
Stuff," from which all things are 
evolved ! Pervading all space — is 
space itself ! Evolving man, and 
ganglia of consciousness upon which 
to vibrate, — radiating thought. 



Admitting that mind and matter 
are different manifestations of one and 
the same thing, which in the last 
analysis must be electrical, — some 
poor scientific unregenerate might 
ask, "Who made electricity?" and 
would feel greatly edified and 
informed if told that it was " God." 



48 Philosophy of the 



^V^IGHT, heat and electricity are 
0fli t correlated phenomena, de- 
^^* pendent upon varying modes 
of atomic motion, of which the sun is 
the immediate source ; all matter 
becoming more or less radio-electrical 
as it is near to or remote from the sun. 

Electrical phenomena must be 
much more at the planet Mercury 
than at Neptune or Uranus, — circling 
in cold unconscious grandeur the far- 
off confines of solar space; — with 
what mission, unless it be that of 
balance-wheels to the system, — in the 
final round-up and wreck of worlds, 
rushing back to feed the conflagration, 
which will etherealize the whole ? 

All forms of matter — solid, liquid, 
gaseous, ethereal — are degrees of 
atomic vibration. 



Great Unconscious 49 

Dizzy with age — the earth will reel 
back to its source — some day, — 
becoming liquid and gaseous in turn, 
hastening on to the ultimate ethereal. 

" An unsubstantial pageant faded, 
leaving not a wreck behind." 



/•f^XECTRO-ATOMIC matter! 
1\^ Indestructible motion; co- 
^^ r existent and co-extensive with 
time and space; possessed of 
independent creative energy ; potent 
with all possibility ; pregnant with 
all phenomena ; having power to 
make and unmake worlds, suns and 
systems : and although without life or 
consciousness, yet with inherent 
capacity of combining to produce 
both ; evolving and developing differ- 
ent special sense organs, in connection 
with a central sense organ, the Ego. 



50 Philosophy of the 

The more we comprehend this great 
unconscious cosmic force, operating 
everywhere, in rolling sphere and 
elemental atom, we find less room or 
reason for will or consciousness of 
any kind. 

Consciousness is in harmony with 
animate life. But the condition and 
operations of the great inanimate 
unconscious universe are such as to 
render consciousness unnecessary and 
useless. 

This insignificant speck of earth, 
once thought to be the centre, is 
probably freighted with the only 
sample of egoism in the universe. 

Things had to assume something 
of their present condition before 
phenomena of mind could have been 
evolved. 



Great Unconscious 51 

The world gyrated along very well 
for ages without it, and would prob- 
ably continue so to do, if all such 
phenomena should cease. 

No pause or jar will occur in the 
harmony of the spheres when man 
and mind drop out, as they may and 
must. 

Poor human intelligence ! mean 
and mutable ! a fleeting phase of 
animate nature ; developed with the 
body, to fail and perish with it. 

The conscious is finite ; the uncon- 
conscious, infinite. The conscious is 
transient ; the unconscious abideth 
forever. 

^^KHE source of the conscious in 
I J I unconscious ; developed when 
^■^ conditions were favorable, to 
disappear when conditions become 
unfavorable. 



52 Philosophy of the 

Unconscious matter becomes trans- 
muted into mind in vibrating on an 
organ of mind, thus assuming the 
mental mode of motion. 

Phenomena of mind cannot be a 
primary mode of motion, but the 
result of material vibrations reaching 
the brain through the special senses. 

External organs of sense, developed 
by vibrations of more or less visible 
tangible forms of molecular matter, 
are sensitive to these vibrations 
alone, — transmitted to the central 
sense organ, — the function of which 
is to perceive, register, generate, and 
radiate that finer vibration called 
thought, — on the theory that mind is 
matter in some still more attenuated 
form. 

# * # # 



Great Unconscious 53 

Musical sounds of all kinds depend 
upon molecular vibrations, produced 
by means of mechanical apparatus 
adapted to the purpose. 

Mental phenomena of all grades 
depend upon atomic vibrations, mani- 
fested through a peculiar mechanism 
adapted to the purpose. 



^^KTME, space, matter, motion, 
I J cause and effect ; co-extensive, 
^itr co-existent ; without begin- 
ning and without end. 

Being infinite, they are beyond 
knowledge or comprehension. 

But if in the course of events, 
man's physical well-being renders it 
essential, desire to know will become 
sufficiently strong and continuous. 
Thus the organ of understanding will 
be further and sufficiently developed. 



54 Philosophy ofthe 

Necessity and desire, develop brain 
power. 

From necessity, man acquires 
knowledge ; and from experience, is 
desirous of acquiring more. 

The highest mintage is of the brain, 
coining matter into mind ; a sub- 
stance more rich and rare, it may be, 
than gold or gems ; more precious and 
more powerful, when free from dross. 

More transient, it may be, than all 
other forms of matter — is thought, 
and yet alone worth while. 

Noble thoughts are the seeds of 
noble action ; noble action, the fruit 
of noble thought. 

Add to the world's wealth by 
unselfish thought. 



Great Unconscious 55 



^SdS IT better to be a conscious or 
^11 an unconscious part of all this 
v£J summer world? Are there 
more agreeable than disagreeable 
sensations, more pleasure than pain 
in conscious existence ? 

No doubt the importance of life, of 
which Nature is very prolific and also 
very prodigal, is over estimated ; — 
a constant struggle, its beginning is 
travail, — its end tragedy. 

Conscious life is made up of im- 
pressions, memories and notions, false 
and foolish for the most part. 

All the hopes, ambitions and long- 
ings, of all that have ever lived, — 
mere emotions and impulses, change- 
ful and fleeting, from infancy to age. 



56 Philosophy of the 

There are more ills to be endured 
than pleasures gained. 

To be a conscious part of an infinite 
universe is to endure and suffer. 

A state of consciousness is a state 
of dissatisfaction. 

To be conscious is to be conscious 
of unrest. 

To know that we know, to feel that 
we feel, to perceive that we perceive, 
to be conscious that we are con- 
scious — to be conscious of the 
unconscious is to be conscious. 

And the more conscious of the 
unconscious, the more insignificant 
the conscious. 



Great Unconscious 57 

To be conscious is to be selfish and 
suffer, to be unsatisfied and misera- 
ble, to realize infinite unrest ; to be 
conscious of the perpetual martyrdom 
of the unfit, the poor and weak — that 
the fit, the well and strong, may 
survive and flourish. 



To be unconscious is to be a part 
of the great careless, painless, 
harmonious unrest. 



Transcendental and Real 



11 Where it is presumption to doubt 
and investigate, there it is worse than 
presumption to believe." 

1 ' The sole ground on which any state- 
ment has a right to be believed, is the 
impossibility of refuting it. ' ' 



^*4^ANKIND have been enter- 
1 1 1 taining: unnatural desires, 
0m W^ hopes, and beliefs, through 
all the ages. 

They have interpreted Nature from 
a mental standpoint, and by an 
intelligence which environment has 
evolved, and which has hitherto 
proven very fallible. 

They have dreamed and guessed, 
without having understood the order 
of Nature. 

Their views have been circum- 
scribed ; their desires selfish ; their 
beliefs baseless. 

We of to-day are contending with 
all the habits, customs and prejudices 
of all the past — with all that is 
corrupt and corrupting; moral, mental 
and physical. 



62 Philosophy ofthe 

It would seem much better to have 
lived when life and love and hope and 
thought were clean and new ; when 
air and earth and water and blood 
were pure. 

Why not for once wipe the slate 
free from all forms and formulas, of 
all systems and sects ; from all that 
has so long plagued and perplexed, 
and turn to Nature, who alone holds 
the key to all the mysteries of life and 
of death, and whose order cannot be 
changed — to Science, whose inter- 
pretation of this great order must 
ultimately be mathematically exact. 

In the interest of complete mental 
emancipation, and to get at the heart 
and soul of things, it is necessary to 
elimate all preconceived notions ; and 
afterwards accept nothing, assume 
nothing, and know nothing but 
absolute truth. 



Great Unconscious 63 



ALL that is not based on the 
real, all that is not demon- 
strable by the actual, is of no 
practical value. 

All that is not founded on fact, is 
worse than useless. 

The many conflicting systems of 
religion with which the world is filled 
and flooded, prove conclusively that 
the problem of existence is not one 
of theology, or of metaphysics, but 
of Science ; not to be solved in the 
library, but the laboratory. 

More has been accomplished by 
Science, in the last half century, 
towards getting at facts, and for the 
advancement and well being of the 
world, than in all previous time — 
under religious domination. 



64 Philosophy of the 

A combination of fear and supersti- 
tion, a result of ignorance and early 
training — all remnants of supernatural 
religious belief are bound to vanish in 
the light of modern Science. 

For centuries, the foremost nations 
of ancient times believed in a myth- 
ology which was utterly without 
foundation in fact. 

For centuries, the most highly 
civilized nations of modern times have 
accepted a theology equally baseless. 

When mythology became unsatis- 
factory to thinking people, philosophy 
of some kind was substituted. 

As theology of to-day is becoming 
unsatisfactory, it is being bolstered 
up by metaphysics of some sort. 

Vast untaxed religious plants, with 
rich livings, may serve to perpetuate, 
but cannot save from inevitable 
decay. 



Great Unconscious 65 



^J^KCAUSE a system is high, and 
113 historic, with numerous ad- 
>^ herents, or because things 
have been always believed by 
everybody, is no sufficient reason for 
blind acceptance ; but the best reason 
in the world for doubt. 

Men often sacrifice everything for 
what they believe just and true, which 
afterwards proves to be unjust and 
false. 

Religious dogmas, for which thous- 
ands have been willing to die, and for 
denying which hundreds of thousands 
have been compelled to die, are new 
no longer entertained. 

What people believe, or have 
believed, however sincerely, has 
therefore but little weight in getting 
at facts. 



66 Philosophy of the 

As a general rule, the less people 
know the more they believe. 

Belief is not knowledge. Knowl- 
edge consists in absolute, indisputable 
facts. 

Fact does not need faith to make it 
so. When a thing is proven to be a 
fact, it is no longer a subject of belief, 
but of knowledge. We do not say we 
believe two and two make four ; we 
know it to be a fact. 

While knowledge is know-so ; belief 
is hear-say, say-so, think-so, guess-so, 
suppose-so, and hope-so. 

The world needs more knowledge 
of fact, less faith in fable. 

Fed on fiction in early life, we lose 
taste for facts, and spend the last part 
of life trying to unlearn what has been 
learned the first part. 



Great U n conscious 67 

Faith and credulity have been a 
curse to the world ; doubt and disbe- 
lief, a blessing. 

There is hope when man begins to 
doubt, when dogma begins to 
disintegrate, when day begins to 
dawn. 



AL,L ecclesiastical authority 
that has blighted hope and 
humanity by preventing free 
thought and scientific progress, was 
derived primarily from books believed 
to be of supernatural origin, — contain- 
ing many absurdities and obscurities, 
now and then a rhapsody, and here 
and there some saving clause of 
ethics, — but not enough to redeem 
from rivers of blood, oceans of agony, 
and wilderness of error, caused 
and promulgated. 



68 Philosophy of the 

A product for trie most part of 
priest-craft — it has not been the study 
of bibles, or the observation of creeds 
that has improved the condition of 
mankind in modern times, but 
greater knowledge of Nature. 

Theology kept man mumbling 
prayers, counting beads, and droning 
litanies eighteen hundred years. 

Science taught him to harness 
steam and electricity to the car of 
progress, revolutionizing the world in 
a generation. 

A dynamo is of more practical use 
than a deity. 



m 



E ARE not called upon to be 
foolish or credulous, in 
order to be good and true. 
We are not called upon to adopt or 
reverence or waste time on any system 
of " Revealed religion," ancient or 
modern, Jewish or pagan. 



Great Unconscious 69 

We are not called upon to believe 
in any book, or to have faith in any- 
thing, not in harmony with Nature, 
reason, and common sense. 

We would substitute reason for 
revelation ; the divinity of Nature for 
the divinity of scripture ; a God-like 
man for a man-like God ; Darwin and 
the scientists for Moses and the 
prophets. 

To know the history and understand 
the nature of a pebble or grain of sand 
on the sea-shore, would be far more 
interesting and important than to 
understand the contents and know 
when, where, and by whom all the 
bibles and so-called sacred books in 
the world were written. 

There is more inspiration in the 
leaves of the pale blue Forget-me-not, 
than in all the leaves of "Holy Writ." 



70 Philosophy of the 



^•fHKRE is in Nature a higher 
I | authority than found in any 
^■^ book, or formulated in any 
creed. 

There never has been and never 
will be, a supernatural event in all 
the wide universe ! 

There never has been, and never 
will be, any such thing as a super- 
natural revelation ! 



Beliefs, books, systems, sects, 
creeds, and churches, are not sacred ! 

Justice, honour, love, liberty, 
friendship and truth, alone are sacred ! 



Great Unconscious 71 

Truths of Science are sacred ! 
Nature alone divine ! 

Man's power over the forces of 
Nature are in proportion to his 
knowledge of Science, rather than 
faith in the supernatural. 

All practical knowledge has been 
gained by a critical study of the great 
unwritten revelation of Nature ; a 
revelation of unchangeable, invariable 
immutable order. 

The mission of education is to 
acquire and spread a correct under- 
standing and interpretation of this 
infallible record, — the basis of all 
Science, and of all true religion — a 
record which no church council can 
change, or ecclesiastical synod 
corrupt. 



72 Philosophy of the 

While the chief business of tran- 
scendentalism is to revel in the remote 
and mysterious, forever exploiting 
the unknown and unknowable, the 
mission of Science is to account for 
natural phenomena ; and in so doing, 
to clear up mystery, dispel illusion, 
and eliminate the supernatural from 
Nature and human life — thus 
imparting to Nature itself an infinitely 
greater significance. 

* * # # 

So many errors are entertained be- 
cause they have been entertained, and 
for so long a time ! 

So many things are believed because 
they have been believed, and from 
pure assertion ! 

So much faith in fable, the more 
fabulous, the more faith ! The 
greater the errors, the more false and 
fallacious, the larger the following ! 



Great Unconscious 73 

The only hope of the future is in 
Science. As it becomes exact and 
all-embracing, it must become the 
foundation of all social and moral life 
and action. 



Scientific truth is the only thing 
about which there can be no division. 
We must look to it alone to unite the 
views of all men. 

Its object is not to induce people to 
believe, but to enable them to know 
facts, which must inevitably supplant 
creed and credulity. 



^•^HERB can be no controversy 
I between Science and true 



0^?} 

$ 



religion. A person may be 
religious without being at all theo- 
logical, — much more sincerely so. 



74 Philosophy ofthe 

We can love all that is good and 
true, without accepting anything that 
is false or unreasonable. 

Hence the elimination of the super- 
natural from the universe, need not 
disturb the sincere moralist. He 
should help 

<{ Ring out the false, ring in the true ; 
Ring out the old, ring in the new." 

He should help disencumber re- 
ligion of the effete and artificial 
dogmas of a dead past ; the cause 
of division and strife, and a hindrance 
to healthy moral and scientific 
progress. 

Have faith in facts. Trust the 
truth. All that is worth while will 
survive. All that is worthless must 
perish. 




Great Unconscious 75 



CIENCE is alone satisfied 
with knowing ; theology with 
assuming. Science demands 
facts ; theology, faith. 

The one appeals to reason ; the 
other to revelation. 



' ' The study of Science never breeds 
crime or criminals." 

A lover of Science is a lover of 
Truth. 

Men of Science are men of simplicity 
and purity. 

" Great teachers of Science are high 
priests of Nature ; associating with 
whom one can but imbibe some of her 
sacred truths." 



76 Philosophy of the 



/•^NTRENCHED ecclesiasticism, 
#1^' in wrongful control of most 
^^f higher educational institu- 
tions, has always opposed any 
scientific truth which might in any 
way disturb its claims. 

As a result, or in consequence of 
this opposition, Science has never 
been allowed a hearing until recent 
years. 

Even now there are but few if &ny 
universities where its teaching is 
unrestricted, and free thought 
encouraged. 

Why has mankind been more ready 
to accept the theories of transcendent- 
alism than the plain facts of Science ? 

Is there anything more sacred than 
truth ? 

11 So far from Science being irrelig- 
ious, it is the neglect of Science that 
is irreligious." 



Great Unconscious 77 

It often requires greater moral 
courage to openly accept the truths of 
Science than to acquiesce in the 
popular dogmas of theology. 

The martyrdom of Bruno is an 
illumined page in the annals of 
religious bigotry illustrative of this 
fact. 

What lover of truth and free 
thought, in visiting Rome, however 
much he may admire its wonderful 
art and architecture, will not pause in 
supreme reverence before the statue 
which Free-thinkers of the whole 
world have erected to his memory, — 
" The first martyr to Science " — there, 
in the shadow of the Vatican, on the 
very spot where over three centuries 
ago he had been burned at the stake ! 
For what ? For proclaiming one of 
the greatest scientific truths of all the 
ages. 



78 Philosophy of the 

The wonder is that an institution, 
having the record of such a crime, 
can still survive and command any 
respect among thinking men. 

If it had been possible for mediaeval 
Europe to produce such a man as 
Darwin, he, too, with all his works, 
would have likewise perished. 

As it is, nothing ever created so 
much commotion among the dry- 
bones of theology as the theory of 
evolution. It not only involved the 
dogma of special creation, but of the 
creator himself, and hence met with 
bitter denunciation by the churches. 
But in spite of all opposition, this 
great vital truth of Nature has grad- 
ually won its way to universal 
acceptance, and come to be the 
foundation of all true philosophy. 



Great Unconscious 79 



A^I^HEN the clergy saw the tide 
411 going against them they be- 
^ ▼" gan trying to hedge and 
harmonize. 

As Huxley says, " The church first 
said evolution was absurd. Then, it 
was contrary to the Bible. Finally, 
' We always knew it was so.'" 

<4 At first, she said she wouldn't ! 
Then she said she couldn't ! 
And then she said * I'll see !' " 

However, theology is no longer 
synonymous with morality and 
religion. It no longer has the whole 
moral and religious field to itself — 
since there can be no contradiction 
between Science and true religion. 
The controversy is between Science 



80 Philosophy of the 

and superstition. As Science con- 
tinues to reveal and prove the facts of 
Nature, its triumph must be complete. 

Controlled by no hierarchy, free 
from fanaticism and crime, fearless of 
facts — the object of Science is not to 
conceal or evade, but to enlighten and 
improve the condition of mankind in 
every way — moral, mental, and 
physical ; in developing and utilizing 
the material forces of Nature, in 
lessening disease and alleviating 
pain, in lifting the burden of toil, 
in giving a clear and exact inter- 
pretation of all phenomena, and 
demonstrating the why and wherefore 
of all things. 

The world, old in religion, is young 
in Science! The future is full of 
hope! Life may yet be worth living! 



Great Unconscious 8 1 



^*d¥ THE assumptions of theology 
ffl and metaphysics were as 
v2/ susceptible of verification as 
those of physiology and physics, there 
might be hope of harmony in place of 
a bedlamic jargon of absurdity and 
obscurity. 

Theology rests on supposition and 
presumption, is propagated by asser- 
tion and assumption, and accepted 
by the ignorant, credulous and 
unthinking many, for the sake of the 
church. 

Metaphysics rests on the intangible 
shadow of nothing — unreasonable, 
unthinkable, unintelligible — the per- 
quisite of priest, pedagogue and 
pedant. 

Science rests on facts, obtained 
by observation and experience, and 
appeals to the reasoning few, for 
the sake of truth and humanity. 



82 Philosophy of the 

If nothing but absolute truth had 
been uttered or taught by the clergy 
during the past two thousand years, 
what great peace the world would 
have enjoyed, and how much misery 
would have been avoided. 

If religious teachers of to-day were 
to confine themselves to theological 
facts, they would be mute forevermore. 

If metaphysical philosophers were 
to express themselves intelligibly, 
they would cease to be metaphysical. 

" Whatever is true can be made 
clear." 

The real, essential and useful, are 
clear and comprehensible. The un- 
real, non-essential and useless, are 
obscure and incomprehensible. 

The transcendental is unreal, 
impractical, obscure, incomprehensible 
and worse than useless. 



Great Unconscious 83 



^ff DEAUSTIC philosophy is a 
^1; theologico-metaphysical morass 
v2/ in which souls are becoming 
waterlogged, petrified, fossilized and 
lost. 

An interminable mass of subtilties 
and sophisms, designed to darken 
understanding rather than enlighten 
by a clear statement of facts. 

A mental gymnastics in word jug- 
glery, no doubt necessary for those 
preparing for the ministry, but 
meaningless and mind-destroying 
to those in search of truth. 

Treating of the non-existent, in 
winding mazes lost, it easily finds any 
meaning or no meaning in everything 
or nothing. 

While the real law and order of 
Nature is susceptible of demonstra- 
tion and proof, the theories of 
idealism can only be assumed. 



84 Philosophy of the 

Have faith — not in the fallible 
assumptions of man, but in the in- 
fallible record of Nature ! 

Doubt the dreams of dreamers, of 
transcendentalism, of metaphysics ; 
but do not doubt the natural senses, 
evolved by the great unconscious 
forces and phenomena of Nature, 
through which alone we communicate 
or take cognizance of the same. 

But, after all, there are so many 
"dumb driven cattle* ' who never 
think, or think only of profit and loss, 
or of something worse, — stumbling 
on, they know not where, they care 
not how, surrounded by so much that 
is mysterious and unaccountable — 
the few who try to think — the wildest 
dreams of mysticism even, are worthy 
of respect. 



Great Unconscious 85 

Presumptions are preferable to no 
ideas whatever. 

All the vagaries of all the idealistic 
mind-worshippers before and since 
Descarte, including that of "Christian 
Science," have been and are of great 
advantage to mankind — helping to 
disintegrate old systems. 



To think is to evolve; and at length 
from a higher, broader point of view, 
all apparent contradictions in the 
philosophy of existence will be made 
to harmonize. 

There must be primitive facts from 
which to infer all others. These facts 
will be found ! Truth must appear ! 



Negative knowledge finds the super- 
natural everywhere in Nature. Positive 
knowledge finds the natural everywhere 
in Nature. 

The more knowledge of Nature, the 
more faith in her infinite possibilities . 

The more knowledge of the real, the 
less faith in the transcendental. 

Chemistry, Physics, Biology — sacred 
trinity — knowledge of which will explain 
all things. 



^%ffAN cannot divest himself of 
1 ■ ■ t ^ ie ^ ea that ne is the image 
M*?^ of a personal creator, and 
thus has created a Creator in his own 
image. 

The orthodox formula, "I believe 
in God, the Father Almighty, Maker 
of heaven and earth," meant some- 
thing fifty years ago. 

In thus assuming the existence of a 
personal creator, theology attempts to 
account for one unaccountable 
phenomenon, by another, equally 
unaccountable. 

A product of primitive ignorance, 
the God idea, however modified by 
modern metaphysics, must be wholly 
eliminated before a correct under- 
standing of Nature can be reached. 



88 Philosophy of the 

Surrounded by mystery, we need 
not call it God ! We do not know ! 
Not knowing we aspire. 

We should not assume another 
mystery, and think we know, and 
cease to think. 

But mankind find a deity in what 
they cannot comprehend : begin to 
grovel, cease to think, accept theology 
and are satisfied. 

Science, however, in demonstrating 
that motion and creative energy are 
inherent in atoms, acting independ- 
ently of any higher power, has 
established the fact of a purely 
natural cosmology, about which 
transcendentalism has been assuming 
and guessing for ages. 



The universe is infinite, therefore 
could not have been created. 



Great Unconscious 89 

— — — — — ^— i 

The germ of all life is in Nature, 
to be developed under favorable 
conditions. And although we may 
not now be able to trace the entire 
process of its inception, we are sure it 
is not supernatural. 

With inherent power to evolve a 
world, Nature hath also power to 
fill it with life and beauty. 

All organic life, conscious and un- 
conscious, is an inevitable result, not 
of plan or design, but of conditions 
and environment. When conditions 
were right, life appeared. 

In the final analysis all the processes 
of organic and inorganic Nature are 
alike inherent in its elements. 

There is no myth or miracle, deity 
or demon connected with the process, 
but natural cause and effect. 



90 Philosophy of the 

Such common kinds of everyday- 
stuff as air and water, are essential to 
all organic life. 

Air, earth and water teem with life, 
animal and vegetable, visible and in- 
visible. Wherever there is light, heat 
and moisture, there is life. 

Kissed by the virile rays of the 
source of all energy, the earth in 
spring-time responsive wakes to life 
and beauty. 

But if yon sun should cease to shine 
a year, — oh where would all this life 
and beauty be ! 

And oh ! How many budding 
springs have come and gone, — will 
come and go, — that we have never 
known — will never know ! 

Touched by the finger of The Great 
Unconscious — to what a dream of 
beauty the October hills will become 
transformed — just the same, when we 
are gone ! 



Great Unconscious 91 



«P*|IVESTED of the idea of a 
III personal creator, how much 
^^^ more divine doth Nature her- 
self become — plastic in whose hands, 
organs of sense and ganglia of 
consciousness are formed and 
fashioned, whereby we may perceive, 
love and adore. 

Alone with The Great Uncon- 
scious — alone with Nature anywhere — 
we feel her infinite vastness, and find 
unfailing rest in all her wild 
harmonious sounds ; companionship 
and peace in all her varied moods 
and phases. 

Iyive close to Nature ! Yield to her 
subtile influences ! Get in accord 
with her grand yet simple harmonies ! 

Thus inspired with finer impulses, 
be able to think and act more 
unerringly. 



92 Philosophy of the 

However kind and restful Nature 
may be — no one can afford to ignore 
or take chances with her invariable 
order. 

The ruthless ruin wrought by the 
elements is evidence that no personal 
intelligence is in control, but uncon- 
scious force alone. 

It is well enough to recognize the 
fact that this impersonal, creating and 
destroying power, is unmoved by 
supplication or entreaty ; heeds not 
profanity or praise ; destroys not the 
wicked, protects not the good. 



Prayer, potent through reflex action 
only — dies on the lips, in presence of 
this great unchanging and unchange- 
able order ! 



Great Unconscious 93 

Man's only salvation is in 
understanding — and learning to live 
and act in harmony therewith. Non- 
observance is unpardonable ! A plea 
of ignorance will not avail ! 

"The Moving Finger writes; and 

having writ, 
Moves on : nor all your Piety nor Wit 
Shall lure it back to cancel half 
a Line, 
Nor all your Tears wash out a word 
of it." 



Ethical and Social 



He who says or does something which 
causes men to think and aspire, has not 
lived in vain. 



^^■T'HK physical law and order of 
I J the universe is immutable. 
^■^ The so-called moral law, in 
process of evolution, is more or less 
mutable. One is primary, the other 
secondary ; one pertains to the con- 
scious, the other to The Great 
Unconscious. 

As there is nothing supernatural 
about the physical, so there is nothing 
supernatural about the moral order ; 
it, too, has a purely natural source, 
developed with the social condition of 
man. 

A creature of circumstances, a 
product of evolution and environment, 
morally, mentally and physically — 
man is not to be blamed or praised for 
natural qualities, good or bad. 



98 Philosophy of the 

Powerful psychological influences 
often produce a radical change in the 
feelings and sentiments of the natu- 
rally vicious, which may be lasting. 



Faith and hypnotic suggestion are 
dominant factors in all marvelous 
cures and conversions. 

But as a general rule the moral and 
social improvement of mankind has 
been a process of growth and 
development. 



If in the regular order of Nature a 
higher type of manhood is being 
evolved, it becomes a duty, as well as 
a privilege, to co-operate in thus 
improving the race. 



Great Unconscious 99 

If survival of the fittest is the order 
of Nature, be a circumstance, and 
make as many fit as possible. 



But when it is claimed that the God 
of the Hebrews begat a son, superior 
to natural law, subverting the same, 
with the remote possibility of 
' 'saving" a small fraction of the 
human family on condition of faith in 
a creed, we are simply unable to co- 
operate in the "scheme," because 
involving so much that is contrary, 
not only to the great unchangeable 
order of Nature, but to reason and 
common sense. 



Some such supernatural assump- 
tion has been the curse of all religious 
systems. 



ioo Philosophy of the 



flV^O DOUBT the person in whose 
iLil name the great Christian 
^*^1 hierocracy has been built up, 
lived and died a martyr to the unselfish. 

Burdened with a message, leaving 
his home in Galilee and going to the 
great metropolis to suffer and die — 
misinterpreted, misunderstood, mis- 
represented — then as now. 

A personality more ideal than 
real, — there is something extremely 
pathetic about the story, which 
tradition has handed down, of his 
brief ministry and tragic end. 
A life of simplicity and service — 
A ministry of forgiveness and love — 

. . . . with no abiding place. 

In great contrast with what now 
prevails among those claiming to be 
his followers. Their sumptuous 



Great Unconscious 101 

homes, magnificent churches and 
complex systems of dogmatic the- 
ology — a combination of Judaism and 
Paganism, much more objectionable 
than the priest-craft which he 
denounced, and from which he tried 
to deliver his people. 

His mission was not to establish a 
sect or system, but to do away with all 
sects, systems and creeds, and 
substitute in their place, kindness 
and cleanness — that is all. 

That high mission must not fail ! 
It will not fail ! 



Free from all forms and ceremonials, 
the religion of the future, with prin- 
ciple in place of priest-craft, right in 
place of ritual, will be churchless, 
creedless, prayerless and priestless. 



102 Philosophy of the 

No mouldy mummeries from tombs 
and temples of a buried past, but vital 
messages fresh from the living ; from 
earth, and air, and sky, and all the 
wide immeasurable universe — will 
consist, not in assuming and believing, 
but in knowing and doing. 



^/F THE priesthood of Christ's 
^1 time was a generation of vipers, 
vV that of to-day is a generation 
of vampires. 

Priestcraft ! Now as ever a living 
lie ! Now as ever an enemy to free 
thought and free men — has no longer 
inquisitorial power to forbid doubt, or 
to compel faith, although hell and a 
heresy trial are still in store for any 
among them who dares to be honest. 



Great Unconscious 103 

Dogmatic religion — too narrow at 
the base and too circumscribed at the 
top — leaves no room for growth and 
development. 

Great reformers are milestones 
marking human progress, beyond 
which mankind cease to progress. 



The best passage in the life of 
Christ, and among the best in human 
history, if we may rely on the record, 
was the way he treated the unfortu- 
nate woman accused of adultery. 

A revelation to the bigotry and 
injustice of his time, and a rebuke to 
that of to-day. 

Those " winged words," " L,et him 
that is without sin among you cast 
the first stone," should be inscribed 
on the walls of every so-called hall of 
justice in the whole world ! 



104 Philosophy of the 



^^f HERE is a striking similarity 
I I between the lives of Socrates 
^■^ and Jesus Christ. Both were 
ethical teachers and reformers, insist- 
ing on moral character rather than 
theological belief. Both denounced 
prevailing religious systems, and in 
so-doing excited the bitter enmity of 
the priesthood, in consequence of 
which they were condemned to die. 

Both might have escaped, but 
refused, from exalted motives : 

Socrates replying, when urged by 
his friends, "Is there any place 
outside of Attica where men do not 
die?" 

And Christ to one of his followers, 
" Put up thy sword," and again in 
Gethsemane, "Not my will, but 
thine, be done." 



Great Unconscious 105 

There can be no reason for doubting 
the record of Socrates' life and teach- 
ings, or of his trial, condemnation 
and death. 

In the case of Jesus Christ, there 
was a motive for assuming many 
things. 

But divested of all myth and 
miracle, which religious zeal has 
woven into the story, the fact remains 
that he was a sincere and lovable 
person. 

Why has the world crucified its 
redeemers — always ? 



io6 Philosophy of the 



^■KHE three greatest moral and 
I I I ethical teachers of which we 
^■^ have knowledge, are Zoroaster, 
660-583 B. C, Confucius, 551-488 
B. C, and Buddha, 551-483 B. C. 

The essence of Zoroaster's teach- 
ings are good thoughts, good words 
and good deeds. 

Of Confucius, humanity, upright- 
ness, decorum, wisdom and truth. 

Of Buddha, right judgment, right 
purpose, right language, right 
practice and right thoughts. 

The Bast might be benefitted by 
our Science and invention, but are in 
no need of our religion. 



Great Unconscious 107 



^f*4+HXLE philosophy has inclined 
■ ■ 1 man kind to live in peace 
^ ▼" and good- will, religion has 
filled the earth with strife, and del- 
uged it with blood. 

The philosophy of Greece, of India, 
of Persia, and of China is a storehouse 
of wisdom, from which the world is 
borrowing constantly. 

The ancients guessed all that 
modern Science has proven, and their 
lost arts no man will ever know. 

Modern times have produced no 
men to be compared with Zoroaster, 
Buddha, or Confucius; Socrates, Plato, 
01 Jesus Christ ; or with any of the 
great poets, prophets and philoso- 
phers, "towering o'er the wrecks of 
time." 



108 Philosophy of the 

It is a satisfaction to know that 
such men have lived ; and that some 
record of their thoughts, and of their 
efforts to solve the problem of life, 
has come down to us. 

Their pure unselfish lives, and high 
ethical ideals, redeem human nature 
and the race. 

No wonder that some were deified ! 
We, too, if living, must have done 
them homage. As it is, we love and 
reverence them as among Nature's 
truest, grandest noblemen. 

Yet all that poet, philosopher and 
seer have sought to unfold through 
all the ages, Science is clearly 
unfolding to-day. 



Great Unconscious 109 



^)4|4'HEN we consider the cost of 
Til "Christian civilization" in 
"^ ™ blood and tears and toil and 
treasure, we are compelled to admit 
that it does not pay. 



Primarily organized and established 
for mutual welfare, and more 
especially for the purpose of protect- 
ing the weak against the strong ; 
civil government has always been 
manipulated by the strong and 
unscrupulous solely in their own 
interests. 



A government of, for, and by 
themselves — enabling the few to get 
position and power — to plunder and 
devour under forms of law. 



< 



no Philosophy of the 

Religious organizations of to-day 
are on a purely commercial basis, 
like everything else. All the leaders, 
and most of the laity, are in them for 
a living, — for what can be gotten out 
of them in the way of honors and 
emoluments. 

Dominated more and more by this 
selfish commercial spirit of greed, 
graft, and get-there — ecclesiasticism 
wants the earth here and now, and 
claims and expects everything in 
sight hereafter. 



That grandest of all ethical senti- 
ments, "The world is my country; 
to do good my religion " — uttered by 
Thomas Paine, great apostle of 
liberty — finds no place or response in 
creed or ritual. 



Great Unconscious in 

It is we, us, and company : our 
church, our society, our system ; not 
for the sake of humanity, but for per- 
sonal gain and aggrandizement. 

" Oh, Lord, bless me and my wife, 
my son John and his wife, us four and 
no more." 



Organizations of every kind are 
supremely selfish, a menace to the 
state, and to equal and exact justice 
between men. 

There is a satisfaction in being un- 
attached and free, — in being able to 
call every man a brother, or any man 
a knave. 



People and things with possibilities 
are always interesting . 

If a person has desire to do things, 
and complies with conditions, he will 
succeed. 

The trouble with this time-serving ', 
money -making , newspaper and novel- 
reading day and generation is, people 
have no personal convictions, and if 
they do have, they have not the courage 
to live up to them. 



jf^tfAN is the architect of his own 
1 1 "I Matures, as well as fortune. 
&^rw << Men's faces are the mirrors 
of their souls, the very image of their 
inmost thoughts. If life be warped 
by vice and crime, the face will show 
it more and more." 



Form and feature are moulded by 
character, habit and aspiration. The 
most beautiful face may become 
brutal, the most brutal become beauti- 
ful, by thought and conduct. 

" Oh, that the face might always 
retain the indescribable charm of 
youth ! But alas ! the most beautiful 
are often changed and disfigured on 
the approach of manhood." 



ii4 Philosophy of the 

" That hideous aspect, once so fair, 
When decked in youth's enchanting 
air, 
Forever blighted are thy charms. 
That scowling eye, that furrowed 

brow, 
Declare what demons rule thee now, 
A wretched prey to guilt's 
alarms." 
" But if the age of the passions 
quickly succeeds the age of innocence, 
Reason may come afterwards — come 
to bring back to the path of virtue ; 
and after the space of a few years, 
beauty may return, provided both 
mind and body have not been entirely 
corrupted." 

The world is full of moral, mental 
and physical wreckage. . . Better 
buried out of sight — much better 
never born ! 



Great Unconscious 115 

Observing people on the streets of 
any large metropolis, one can but be 
discouraged and disgusted with the 
almost universal misery, sensuality 
and selfishness manifested in the 
physiognomy of old and young alike. 

Now and then we are cheered by a 
mother's kind and gentle tenderness, 
or face of youth untainted. 

Ninety per cent of adult faces are 
negatively good or positively bad. 

Rough, repulsive, with every look 
and line of youth and beauty 
obliterated, — we wonder if they 
could possibly have ever known the 
innocence of childhood. 



The distinctively American type of 
face is cold, calculating and commer- 
cial. But true men have lived, and 



n6 Philosophy of the 

do, every line of whose features 
indicates character of the highest 
order. 

Beauty begets beauty ! The most 
beautiful in physiognomy have 
created the best in art, in music, 
poetry, painting, sculpture, and all 
things. 

Quality of mind depends on quality 
of body. An ideal mind is generally 
associated with an ideal body. 

Beauty of the one may appeal to the 
psychic, that of the other to the 
physical nature. 

Physical beauty and perfection, 
always electro-positive, attract and 
fascinate through the reflex sexual, 
which has a predominating influence 
in all social relations, inspiring love. 



Great Unconscious 117 

While nobility and truth leave an 
indelible impress on form and face — 
the ignoble and base are written in 
lines no art or artifice can conceal or 
efface. 

We like some people, and are drawn 
to them through physical charms, 
while we admire others on account of 
moral and mental qualities. 

Perfection of mind and body in- 
spires perfect love. 

An ideal mind with an ideal body, 
makes an ideal man. 



Next to form and feature, — tone of 
voice is indicative of character. 

" If the soul is filled with truth, the 
voice will vibrate with love." 



n8 Philosophy of the 



^^pHE so-called learned professions 
I J I are more or less of a humbug — 
^■^ pretentious, self-seeking — 
anything but ideal. 

To a lawyer, licensed to rob, fame 
and fortune depend largely on every- 
thing and everybody's being in a 
tangle, and at cross purposes. 

A doctor of medicine, licensed to 
kill, is bound to make the most and 
worst of all human ailments. 

And a doctor of divinity, as Emerson 
says, is a special pleader, and must 
be a very poor one, if he can't make 
out a case in his own favor ; no matter 
which one of the many contradictory 
systems of theology he may happen to 
be advocating. 



Great Unconscious 119 

All of the professions flourish and 
fatten on the faults and follies of their 
fellows. 

They may be necessary evils, but 
are more frequently positively bad 
and unnecessary. 

No doubt the world as a whole 
would be much better off without 
them. 

What with lawyers, doctors, and 
the clergy, rum, drugs and tobacco, 
the majority have a hard struggle to 
survive. 

In an ideal social state, all the 
professions will be eliminated. 

People will mind their own busi- 
ness, take care of themselves, and do 
their own thinking. 



120 Philosophy of the 

Avoid the clergy, that you may 
believe less, and know more. 



Avoid doctors, that you may die 
according to Nature. 



Avoid lawyers, that your estate 
may afford a decent burial. 



Most of the ills from which 
"Learned Ignorance" pretend to 
deliver us, are imaginary or avoidable. 



Plain food, pure water, fresh air 
and sunshine, with kind thoughts, 
moderation and a love of Nature — 
will heal all infirmities of mind and 
body. 



Great Unconscious 121 

" Temperance and labor are man's 
best physicians." 



"To live free, attaching ourselves 
but slightly to human affairs, is the 
best method of learning to die." 



"Live in harmony with Nature; 
be patient ; drive away physicians — 
you may not avoid death but will feel 
it once only." 



You say that sin is abhorrent in God's 
sight. Who is God f What is sin? 
And how do you know about it all? 



y^OODNKSS and badness are 
■ Ipk relative. People are good 

VJx when it is good for them to 
be good : bad when it is good for 
them to be bad — impelled thereto by 
inherent selfishness. 



Every impulse in Nature, every 
motive in man, is selfish; rooted in 
the instinct of self preservation, domi- 
nating all things — due primarily to 
atomic polarity. Observed in all 
inorganic nature, still more manifest 
in all lower forms of organic life, and 
most obnoxiously of all, in the con- 
scious life of man — whose selfishness 
and greed hath made merchandise of 
all things. 



124 Philosophy of the 

As man has receded from his 
primitive animal ancestry, and risen 
socially, he is supposed to have 
become more unselfish — which is the 
basis of the so-called moral law, itself 
a product of evolution and de- 
velopment, eliminating inordinate 
selfishness. 

But it is extremely doubtful if man 
ever has, or ever will act from purely 
unselfish motives. 



While selfishness is the immediate 
source of sin and evil, ignorance and 
non-observance of natural order is an 
additional cause, — therefore — 

Selfishness and ignorance are the 
cause of all evil! Love and learning, 
the source of all good I 



Great Unconscious 125 

Selfishness is of two kinds, moral 
and immoral, impelling to all virtue 
and to all vice. 

In trying to be good to others, we 
are good to ourselves, which is the 
morally selfish. 

Trying to be good to self, without 
regard for others, is immorally selfish. 



It may be said that sin, or the 
immorally selfish, is a product of 
evolution. 

It cannot be a sin for carnivora to 
kill and devour for the purpose of 
self-preservation ; but must be an evil 
to the victims. 

Hence all evil cannot be sin. Yet 
all sin must be evil. 



126 Philosophy of the 



^^THE survival of the most power- 
■ I f ul seems to be the order of 
^■^ Nature everj^where. In the 
formation of systems, and in all 
things, smaller masses of matter are 
swallowed up, or become satellites of 
larger bodies. 



The centum-living oak dwarfs and 
survives less hardy trees and shrubs 
in the unconscious struggle of 
existence. And in the lower animal 
kingdom the weak perish that the 
strong may survive. 



But man, conscious of consciousness, 
conscious of power, dreaming of 
immortality — hath refined selfishness 
into an art. 



Great Unconscious 127 

A product of inherent selfishness, 
the psychic was evolved in the 
interest of the physical only. 

Intelligence of every grade is de- 
voted to purely personal ends ; to the 
gratification of selfish desires ; in 
obtaining some advantage over 
others. 



A prime factor in human 
selfishness — deceit, is peculiar to the 
conscious alone ! 

The great unconscious elements of 
Nature are not deceitful — mysterious 
and wonderful, but not treacherous. 

The conscious alone is false ! The 
unconscious always true ! 



128 Philosophy of the 

However this may be, all that is 
called good, and all that is supposed 
to be evil, when traced down through 
the organic to the inorganic, are 
found to be natural products, having 
a common origin. 



The moral and immoral, the selfish 
and unselfish, are inherent in the 
nature of things. 

The incentive to all action, to all 
that is best, and to all that is worst, 
in man and nature, depends primarily 
on atomic polarity. 

The instinct of love and of hate, of 
like and dislike, has its source and is 
exemplified in atomic attraction and 
repulsion. 



Great Unconscious 129 



^>Y ATURAI ^ instinct and the 
*LX1 unconscious are unerring. In 
** ^ order to avoid error we should 
act from perfect knowledge or from 
instinct. 



Mankind are in a transitional state. 
Having lost most of their primitive 
instincts, and with yet insufficient 
knowledge to avoid error, — they are 
the most miserable and unsatisfied of 
all creatures ; while lower animals, 
guided by instinct, supplemented by 
more or less experience, are compara- 
tively contented and happy. 



In proportion to size and weight, 
an Ant has a thousand times more \ 
strength and wisdom than man. 



130 Philosophy of the 

The Coral insect, invisible toiler, 
building with its body the deep 
foundations of a continent beneath 
the waves ; and the poor eyeless 
Earthworm, moiling in the dark be- 
neath the turf, are among Nature's 
greatest untaught architects. 



If personal immortality were 
possible, or the highest good, is there 
a creature in all the wide universe 
more fit than the song bird ? 

Alone on old Ascutney, while the 
world below is growing dark and 
still, — lifted to heaven's gate by its 
tireless melody, — oh, we have wished 
when the Hermit Thrush breathes 
out its last sweet note, that it might 
be borne on the wing of an angel to 
a paradise of endless twilight and 
song ! 



Great Unconscious 131 



^/T HAS been said that the love 
^1 of money is the root of all evil. 
v£/ It may be said with equal truth 
that the love of pleasure is the source 
of all misery. 



While desire for pleasure and hope 
of happiness are incentives to action, 
their attainment cannot be the chief 
end of existence. 

Moral, mental and physical har- 
mony are essential to well-being and 
happiness ; thus making it largely a 
question of generation. 

To have an ideal man, state or 
nation, we must begin with parentage. 

Natural traits, good or bad, are 
transmitted. 



132 Philosophy of the 

Society and the state are a failure 
when they allow the diseased and 
criminal to propagate. 

Hospitals and penitentiaries are 
well enough, but it would be much 
better not to be obliged to use them. 



Pain and pleasure are merely 
incidental. Avoid the one and ex- 
perience the other by always acting 
in harmony with the order of Nature. 
If mankind lived in perfect accord 
therewith, existence would be com- 
paratively painless. 

While pain itself is not an evil, its 
cause is such, and may be removed. 

Things injurious cause pain, — of 
which we are sensitive as long as 
there is possibility of relief : after- 
wards comes insensibility. 



Great Unconscious 133 



fAIN ! Great conservator of life 
and health ! An ill, yet not 
an evil. A danger signal ! A 
warning voice ! It sounds that it may 
save. A cry, not to be hushed save 
by removing the cause. 

Mental suffering, with no conserving 
element, is often harder to endure 
than physical pain. 

The higher the social and ethical 
development, the more sensitive to 
right and wrong, — to the selfish and 
unselfish, and to all the calamities 
and misfortunes of existence. 

Philosophize as we will, explain it 
how we may — life is full of bitterness 
and pain, from which The Great 
Unconscious alone can bring relief. 

We shall sleep well when this 
delirium is over. 



134 Philosophy of the 



^^fHERE is diversion in creating 
I J I things of beauty and utility ; 
^■^ in art and architecture, in 
forestry and farming. 

There is positive satisfaction in 
looking upon finished work, — in 
gathering the ripened fruit of honest 
effort. 

It is seeking to gather where we 
have not sown, grasping greed for 
more than meed or need, that makes 
toil tedious and life a burden. 

More simple, unselfish tastes and 
desires will render life more whole- 
some and harmonious. 

That man may find content, whose 
wants accord with health, and are 
within reach of honest toil. 



Great Unconscious 135 

The reason why life is so hopeless 
to so many, so many are hoping for 
hopeless things. Not content with 
the simple and attainable, they are 
forever striving for the unattainable, 
reaching for what is beyond reach. 

A constant struggle, selfish, bitter, 
intense, — the great object is to get 
and to gain, to have and to hold. 

Not satisfied with enough or with 
anything, men spend their lives trying 
to get, and die grasping for more. 

The loss of one is another's gain : 
the success of one, another's failure : 
the triumph of one, the defeat of some- 
one else. 

He who is just, remains so no 
longer than he receives pleasure and 
profit in being so. 



136 Philosophy of the 

To enjoy life is to enjoy misery ! 

Mankind have tried in various ways 
to forget — to hypnotize themselves 
into a negative kind of happiness, by 
dissipations and illusions of all kinds. 
. . . And when the burden has 
become too great, have faced the 
Spectre — " To be or not to be." 

Whatever else may be the object of 
existence, it certainly cannot be a 
"Saint's Rest." 

The orthodox hell in which we now 
find ourselves is probably normal. 
And it is uncertain whether things 
are in a state of evolution or 
devolution. 

Conditions are now intolerable ; 
if much worse they would be 
unendurable. 



Great Unconscious 137 

Oh, the humbug of the human ! 
The cupidity of the conscious ! 

The whole scheme of modern social, 
civil and religious life is artificial and 
selfish. . . Theology, idiotic guess- 
work ! . . Piety, a pretense ! . . 
Metaphysics, a sick man's dream ! 
. . Woman, deceitful above all 
things! . . Man, hard-faced and 
commercial! 

As a means of promoting universal 
peace, good will and happiness, both 
church and state are, and always have 
been, a gigantic failure. 

In place of paradise — they have 
made of the world a great a-bat-toir. 

The history of the race is a history 
of contention, cruelty and crime ; of 
revolution and ruin — social, political 
and religious. 



138 Philosophy of the 

It is estimated that upwards of 
twenty thousand million of the human 
family have been slaughtered in war ! 
One eighth part of mankind — twenty- 
five times the present population of 
the globe. And at least one third 
were a result of religious fanaticism. 
Oh heavens ! ! 

There are people who never smile, 
because of unspeakable trouble that 
has come into their lives. 

If the record of all the inhumanity 
of mankind to man could be fully 
realized, the smile of gladness would 
forever fade from the human face. 
And in its place would come, — if 
calm at all, if any calm — a settled 
calm despair. 

* # * # 

Inconsistent with the existing social 
order, lasting happiness is yet more 
incompatible with the understood 
order of Nature. 



Great Unconscious 139 

The relentless processes of evolu- 
tion and dissolution, infinite as time 
and matter — crushing, grinding, 
devouring — cannot be reconciled with 
human happiness ! 

As an object of pursuit it is a 
mirage, a mockery, a delusion and a 
snare. 

11 There is nothing in the past but a 
dream of happiness, nothing in the 
future but a hope." 

Existence ! At best a ceaseless 
struggle! At last an inevitable 
tragedy — tracking every living crea- 
ture to the tomb ! 

A large per cent of the human 
family, and practically all lower 
animal life, perish prematurely. 

Calamity overtakes, destruction 
awaits all ! 

Disease, disaster, war, pestilence 
and famine — a ghastly train ! 



140 Philosophy of the 

How can the idea of a " Kind 
Heavenly Father — an All- Wise 
Creator," be reconciled with a world 
full of sin, sickness, desolation and 
death ! 

No wonder at the device of a serpent 
and Satan, demons and devils, 
to account for the miseries and 
misfortunes of existence ! 

Yet here again, " Proud Science " 
comes to the rescue ! 

In demonstrating the fact that the 
formative and controlling force of 
the Universe cannot be a conscious 
intelligence, it has lifted this odious 
burden from the shoulders of a 
' ' Deity, ' ' annihilated a future ' ' Hell, ' ' 
exterminated "Satan" and relieved 
religious faith of an intolerable 
strain. 



Great Unconscious 141 



4^HE saddest thing about life is 
ft I decay and death ! To grow 
^■^ old ! We do not have the 
pre-natal pleasure of anticipating 
existence, but do have the misery of 
anticipating old age and death. 

The inevitable order of Nature — it 
must be best or it would not be so. 
L,ife or death are probably of no 
account whatever outside of personal 
consciousness. 

The psychic is bound to be dissatis- 
fied in any event ! Filled with 
discontent in life — we are still 
unwilling to be done with it. 

Oh life ! Its pain and passion, 
truth and error ! In the ebb and flow 
of which we are tossed forever ! 



142 Philosophy of the 

The only redeeming thing about it 
all is Love ! 

To love and be loved is the one 
thing that makes life worth living ! 

Not to have loved . . It were 
better not to have lived ! 



People as a general rule are not 
unhappy on account of political, 
economic or religious conditions ; but 
for want of human sympathy and 
good fellowship. 

A person may have the whole 
world, yet without friendship, will be 
miserable. 

A wilderness shared with love, is 
paradise ! 



Great Unconscious 143 

"We have not lost everything on 
earth when we have found a faithful 
friend!" 

Friendship-love is the only satisfy- 
ing thing life can give, or mortals 
know. 

Hallowed be the name of Love and 
Friendship ! 

The highest love — the love divine — 
is human love. 

The only love is earthly love. 

Memory of love outweighs the 
stars — outlasts the fleeting years, — un- 
dimmed, unchanging, unchangeable. 



144 Philosophy of the 



4^HE pessimism of fact is prefer- 
i | able to the optimism of fable — 

^■^ the pessimism of knowledge to 
the optimism of ignorance. 

The thoughtless are optimistic, the 
thoughtful pessimistic. 

A true philosopher is an optimistic 
pessimist, making the best of the 
worst possible conditions : finding 
good in evil, happiness in misery, rest 
in unrest, success in defeat, hope in 
despair. 



Sincerity is the cardinal virtue ; 
dissimulation the unpardonable sin. 

Truth should always be spoken : to 
temporize is to evade. 



Great Unconscious 145 

Emotion and sentiment are well 
enough in religion and romance ; but 
out of place where truth and justice 
are involved. 

Blessed is the man whose circum- 
stances are such that he can afford to 
speak the truth ; and thrice blessed 
he who waketh not the demon in his 
fellow man. 



There are people who can enjoy 
pleasure, while others are in torment. 

There are people who are willing to 
go to heaven, while others are going 
elsewhere. 

There are people who can endure 
being saved, while some are being 
lost. 



146 Philosophy of the 

The mistakes and misfortunes of 
each, are shared by all. The highest 
and the most humble are akin. 

Akin to all — a part of each — how 
can any be content while others suffer ? 

Contending with an inheritance of 
disease, degeneracy and crime — man- 
kind are more deserving of sympathy 
than of censure. 



What good will it do to recall the 
faults, follies and failings of the 
irrevocable past ? To have struggled 
and endured is enough ! Forgotten 
let them be, with circumstance and 
environment of selfishness and passion! 

11 A person is sufficiently unfortu- 
nate in having erred, without being 
punished." 



Great Unconscious 147 

Be yourself — but be unselfish. 

Spare not what you can spare : 
spare what you cannot spare — the 
best. 

The highest ethical ideal is in self- 
sacrifice : to sacrifice all — personal 
hope, happiness, life, heaven itself, 
for right and truth, and for others. 

It is ignoble to act rightly through 
hope of reward, or fear of punishment. 

To know the right is a duty : to act 
in accord therewith, a privilege. 



There are times and occasions for 
doubting and debating, and there are 
times for action. 

There are times and occasions when 
he who hesitates is lost : when he who 
doubts, is damned. 



Existence is an eternal atomic trans- 
migration. 



m 



HEN vitality ceases in one 
organism it becomes food 
for some other. The decay 
of one is the birth of another — higher 
or lower, animate or inanimate : a 
re-combination of its ever changing, 
indestructible, atomic elements, into 
new forms and organisms. 

Thus the infinite process goes on, 
forever new, forever old. 

The egg we ate for breakfast had 
been exposed to a high temperature 
about three minutes. If it had been 
exposed to a moderate temperature 
three weeks, a very interesting ball of 
consciousness would have tumbled 
out of the shell — a " miracle ' ' which 
the science of Biology alone can 
explain. 



150 Philosophy of the 

As an article of diet, embryo-con- 
sciousness, raw, hard or soft-boiled, is 
no doubt of the highest value. To 
trace the entire process of its 
assimilation by the human organism 
would be extremely interesting, from 
a scientific as well as metaphysical 
standpoint. 

All food products result from 
generative functions, animal and 
vegetable. 

If lower forms cease to reproduce, 
higher forms perish. 

The end and aim of all life is 
reproduction. 

The end and aim of reproduction, 
in all lower forms, seems to be that of 
furnishing food for higher forms. 

Yet the prime object of procreation 
cannot be the production of food, but 
of life germs. 



Great Unconscious 151 



^^THE all-pervading effort of 
I I I organic Nature to live and 
^■^ reproduce, inspires all the 
song and melody and joy and hope 
and love of youth — awakens all the 
bud and bloom, gives all the gayety, 
color and perfume, tints every leaf 
and flower of Spring. . . Promise 
of all fruitage and fruition, of seed- 
time and harvest, — impulse to love 
and to live. 



Transmuted, the procreative instinct 
in man finds expression in all thought 
and effort ; in art, music, poetry, 
romance and religion ; and in all that 
is noble and heroic in action. 

The basis of all domestic, social 
and civic life — this divine creative 



152 Philosophy of the 

instinct has been perverted by man- 
kind alone, to become an almost 
unmitigated curse — trie cause of a 
large part of human disease, 
degradation and crime. 

Satisfied only with satiety — man is 
the only creature on earth whose 
sexual and digestive organs are more 
or less diseased or deranged ; a result 
of outrageously illegitimate and in- 
temperate use and abuse. 

Yet psychologists tell us the thing 
which most distinguishes man from a 
brute is will power. 



Great Unconscious 153 



^J^IRTH, growth, reproduction, 
Mia death ; — the eternal round of 
>^ all life, vegetable and animal! 
Is there anything different or better 
for man ? Are there any indications 
of a higher destiny ? Are the uncon- 
scious elements and forces of Nature 
moving towards anything beyond this 
" Bank and shoal of time ?" 



Reproduction ! Great crowning end 
and aim of life ! Inherent, instinctive, 
inevitable ! 

It is all ! The only and sufficient 
personal immortality of which man is 
susceptible. 

In harmony with all nature — it is 



154 Philosophy of the 

enough if at last his closing eyes be- 
hold offspring, which on through the 
ages may extend — although to dark 
forgetfulness his mind and body must 
descend. 

A man may have all else — yet 
without offspring, life is a failure ! 

From a human point of view there 
is no higher mission in all the wide 
universe than to be the Mother of 
men ! 

And yet — the most thoughtless 
optimist that ever dreamed of heaven 
must admit that it would have been 
better, if the vast majority of the 
human family had never been born ! 



Great Unconscious 155 



^■■T'HERE is great apparent waste 
I I and imperfection everywhere 
^■^ in Nature. Many germs 
perish, where one reaches maturity. . 
. . And all the summers of all the 
ages have not produced a perfect leaf. 

In human nature and effort, how 
very much is waste and worthless — 
how very little worth while. 

We sometimes wish or feel or think, 
that if more, or less, or all, or none of 
Nature's life germs perished: if more, 
or less, or all, or none came to 
maturity, it possibly might be just as 
well or better. 



Things occur because they may and 
must, not because of will or wish. 



^|4|^IIvL is want, desire, inclin- 
4JJ ation, appetite, passion, 
^ ▼• necessity: one, or more or 
less of all of these. 

All life and effort is in response to 
sensation. All the appetites and 
passions are aroused by external and 
internal nervous stimuli, and the 
gratification of these desires are in 
response thereto, not primarily to 
will or wish. 

11 Every change in the material 
world can only take place because 
another has immediately preceded it. 

"All that we do or think, is the 
result of previous doing or thinking." 

"We think ourselves free to act, 
because conscious of our actions, and 
not of the causes which determined 
them." 



158 Philosophy of the 

" We can act as we choose, but 
cannot choose anything." 

Every instinct, impulse, thought or 
action, in the last analysis, is inevita- 
ble — the result of the stronger motive 
or suggestion. 

A creature of circumstance, in every 
way, at all times, and in every 
particular ! 

All things, animate and inanimate, 
conscious and unconscious, — a man, 
a moat, a meteor, — move and act 
invariably, impelled thereto by 
environment, and alike controlled by 
necessity. 

A particle of dust drifting in the 
sunbeams is governed in its move- 
ments as unerringly as are the rolling 
spheres. 



Great Unconscious 159 

Things exist as the result of an 
efficient cause — and yet there can 
have been no first cause. A first 
cause is as inconceivable as a limit to 
time or space — the beginning, end, or 
non-existence of which, is utterly 
unthinkable. 

The injection of a supernatural 
cause into the problem only adds 
another cause to be accounted for. 

Time, space, matter, motion, cause 
and effect — infinite and inseparable — 
without beginning and without end. 

It is useless to continue ringing the 
changes or rattling the endless chain 
of cause and effect, — a series as 
measureless and inconceivable as 
infinity itself. 

A link in beings endless chain — 
to-day — to-day is yesterday — to-mor- 
row is to-day. 



160 Philosophy of the 



w 



'HAT has a beginning in time 
must have an end in time." 
There is no place in the 
wide universe where thought or 
knowledge can be kept from the 
destroying power of The Great Un- 
conscious ! A seismic shock, and all 
vestiges of man and mind are back to 
nothingness. 

Yesterday the whole solar system 
was nebulous. To-day a procession 
of worlds. To-morrow it may be 
where it was yesterday. 

All things, animate and inanimate, 
worlds, suns, systems, their cycles 
have ! Nothing abides. 

The law of change is written every- 
where. 

Motion being the inherent attribute 
of matter, there can be no such thing 
as ultimate rest and perfection ; but 
ceaseless evolution and dissolution, 



Great Unconscious 161 

through endless tides of time, 
everywhere and always, in all things, 
physical and psychic, inorganic, 
organic, mental, moral, social, polit- 
ical. An eternity of cycles, from 
primordial to primordial ; no first, no 
last, no beginning, no end. 

In and of it all, endowed with a 
brief personality, we grope, guess, 
gasp, and are gone. 

Oh the lost forgotten traditions of a 
household ! Of a people ! Of a 
world ! 

Why is this thus ? Why is anything 
thus? 

Things must occur in some way — 
" Any old way" — no matter how. . 
. . They might have been differ- 
ent — perhaps better, perhaps worse. 
The same question might be asked in 
any event. Why not this, that or the 
other way, instead of as they do 
occur ? 



162 Philosophy of the 



^T/S IT an evil to be born ? Is it 
^1 an evil to die? If it was not 
v£/ an evil to be born, then it 
cannot be an evil to die. 

Why this insistence on personal 
immortality? Why dream of contin- 
ued consciousness? When pulses 
fail, — forever unresponsive, — con- 
sciousness will cease. 

Immortality lieth not in the direction 
of consciousness : consisteth not in a 
mere selfish function or phenomenon. 

The real, actual, indivisible, 
indestructible, elemental atomic, 
alone is immortal. All else is 
molecular, fleeting, phenomenal. 



Great Unconscious 163 

The idea that personal conscious- 
ness will survive physical dissolution 
is one of the many delusions with 
which mankind are being deluded. 



The desire for continued existence 
results from the inherent instinct of 
self-preservation ; and from the fact 
that atomic matter, being indestructi- 
ble, conscious matter feels and knows 
itself immortal. 



Conscious life will pass, and hope 
of immortality, an iridescent dream, 
must fade. But the indestructible 
elements of which we are a part, 
forever changing, will abide forever. 



164 Philosophy of the 



<8 



NK glorious event comes to 
all, — a resolution into the 
elemental atomic ! A restor- 
ation to the Great Unchained, 
Unfettered, Unconscious — what matter 
if unnoted and unknown — to become 
once more an impersonal part of all 
that ever was or ever will be. A part 
may be, of yon hazy snow-capped 
mountain, or golden sunset, or breath 
of flower, or ever-flowing stream, or 
never resting sea. A part of each, 
akin to all. Forever changing, but 
not destroyed. 

A snow flake, wafted from its birth- 
place in the sky; a rain drop, individ- 
ualized in falling, to be forever lost 
in earth or ocean from whence 
exhaled. . . . Thus man's brief 
life and individuality will vanish 
and be lost. 



Great Unconscious 165 

Consciously or unconsciously, 
willingly or unwillingly, driven or 
drawn, — not as we may but as we 
must, — the tide of time, the tide of 
life moves ever on. We may not 
linger, for those behind are pressing, 
those before us beckon. 

A little while we drift together 
down the stream of time, — and then — 
and then a shifting tide bears us apart 
forever. 

A little while we loiter on together, 
hand in hand, — and then — and then 
our paths diverge and separate 
forever. 

A little while we drift, and dream, 
and wait, and wander, — and then — 
and then — forgetfulness forever. 



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